Nutritional supplement

PashanNovember 13, 2003

Hello everone, I need some advice on a nutritional supplement. Hope someone here can help. Here is my situation:

My 11 year old daughter and I were in a car accident and she has a broken jaw which will be wired shut for the next 4 weeks. She is VERY skinny and can not afford to lose ANY weight at all. (No eating disorder, I was always the same way, super high metabolic rate). We have been told by the doctor that everything that goes into her mouth must be high in calories. I am also concerned about nutrition. I want to make sure that everything she eats has lots of vitamins and nutrients in it too. Especially calcium (she doesn't like milk).

I know pediasure is an option and we'll probably get some of that. Is there another supplement available at health food or nutrition stores that will fill the bill for calories and nutrition? Maybe a powder that I can add to smoothies and milkshakes?

One of the best liquid diets for short-term use, and definitely better-tasting and cheaper than Pediasure or anything you will find at a "health" store is the easy to find "Carnation instant breakfast", made with whole milk. If you want even more calories, make milkshakes with it.

That and big glass of good fruit juice (fruit smoothie?) for the vitamins will keep her in good shape for the month.

Foe sufficient fiber - to prevent constipation - one daily dose of any of the things like metamucil will do.

I bought powdered calcium supplement at the pharmacy to mix into my son's drinks - he is allergic to dairy and I am always worried about him getting enough calcium. It can be mixed into milk or fruit juice (which is what I do.)
There are a lot of wonderful recipes for fruit smoothies on the internet. You can add blackstrap molasses for extra iron, yogurt for calcuim, etc... You can also add wheat germ or flax seed to smoothies.
Winter veggies, such as squash and sweet potatoes, with maple syrup and butter mixed in. They can be run through the blender so they are extra smooth. Mashed potatoes made with whole milk. ~ Suzie

What about adding fruit to milkshakes? Strawberries and bananas are delicious in shakes.

Or how about a vegie blend similar to V-8? Trader Joe's sells a delicious carrot juice (I tried it several years ago and it was delicious... I don't know for sure if they still sell the same brand). It's not high-calorie but it is nutritional.

Pashan, I hope you and your daughter are doing well. Three years ago, when my son was 16, he broke his jaw and had to have it wired shut for 6 weeks also. He was very tall and slim. It is so hard to find a variety of liquid food for that period of time! He practically lived on Carnation Instant Breakfast. In fact that was the main product that his doctor recommended. He also blended lots of foods in the blender. He ate often because it was so hard to eat very much at one time. The school allowed him to bring canned nutritional supplement drinks and store them in the fridge in the teacher's lounge. In-between classes, if he was hungry, he would grab a drink real quick.
He also would order milkshakes at the local drive-in, but he had to tell them not to make them too thick.
It was a very trying time and he was frustrated quite often, but we made it through the 6 weeks and he lost very little weight. What he did lose, he gained right back as soon as he could eat again.

MaryAnn, thank you for the well wishes. We are getting better. We have found a few things she likes and can put in the blender, but not very many. Our doctor also recommended Carnation Instant Breakfast to us. We have found fantastic powdered vitamins that are orange flavored and we put them in SunnyD or in a Orange Sherbet & OJ shake. (YUM!)

She is very frustrated and is having problems emotionally with it. That is our biggest challenge. She wants to chew so badly! I can't imagine how that must feel; it's hard to watch her going through this.

What foods did your son find to put in the blender that he liked? We tried Spaghetti-os and she said they were bad (but I think they are bad out of the can anyhow). Soup only goes so far...

Her school has been very udnerstanding, the cooks let her use the microwave and they've thinned down some food just for her. The sympathy makes her feel better more than anything I think.

Think of the flavors of her favorite foods and try to duplicate them in liquid instead of blending the foods into a pulp. Bump up the spice level - instead of all sweet and high-fat, use some spicy-tangy liquids like V8.

It's partly "mouth hunger" ... the crunch and slither and other sensual pleasures of eating are just not there. Back rubs and extra TLC will help with this.

And point out to her that she's alive to complain about the food ... things could have been a LOT worse.

you get more calcium from spinach than you do from milk...and honestly, I 'drink' creamed spinach myself at work all the time-

but the moms I know with dairy-free kids all seemed to use Jello instead- mixed it with fruit juice, poured it into 'fruit shakes' (I predate the term 'smoothie) and they go down fairly well with kids, even today...

not being able to chew is awful...and since I currently have a friend whose jaw is wired shut (they broke her jaw to reset her teeth after a year in braces) and I have found her with a straw in a bottle of salad dressing! (red wine raspberry vinagrette) muttering darkly about this killing what little sweet tooth she had...

she's currently living on French Onion soup, a horrid-looking slop of salsa and sour cream, and green tea.

wish her luck... and yes, sympathy and special priviledges will accomplish much in the face of pain, tedium, and frustration!